April 13, 2004
Working through a History Mystery
I'm wroking on the mystery of Francois, who's last name may be Kerolleur. In the extended entry are more documents I can't read.
I'm finding some interesting information on the Holocaust in general, such as this bit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
The single most important thing to keep in mind when attempting to document victims of the Holocaust is that no single master list of those who perished exists anywhere in the world. This circumstance has frustrated many of those trying to uncover the fate of family members, but the horrible fact remains that millions died with little record of the event.Despite the German reputation for meticulous recordkeeping, many incidents occurred during the Holocaust without any information being recorded.
.
The anti-aliasing is really hard to deal with. Nonetheless, this is as much as I can read.
First, the birth certificate. It seems the mother's name is Yvonne Helene Therese Poisson. The birth occurred at 2:40 AM, 28 June 1918(?, could also be 1928), in the town of Caen. The child's name appears to be Liliane Yvonne Francoise Gaunier.
Next, the Certificate of Baptism. It seems the baptism occurred on 20 Jun 1943.
Posted by: Samuel Tai at April 13, 2004 11:35 AM (Permalink)Correction on the child's name. I can't make out the 3rd middle name on the Birth Certificate, but it might also read Ferdinande.
I.e., the child's name might be Liliane Yvonne Ferdinande Gaunier.
The date is 1938. Can't get it through better on a scan. I can't figure out why the birth certificate says Garnier or Gaunier. She wasn't adopted until the late 1940s. I was hoping the French on the document would explain it. The baptismal cert shows she was using Poisson (her mother's maiden name in 1938).
Posted by: Justene at April 13, 2004 03:33 PM (Permalink)That may have been a presumption on the part of the clerk filling out the birth certificate. The text at the bottom reads:
Married in Paris (20th district), 16 July 1938. Witnessed by Walter Frederic Jean (can't make out last name).
Can't make out all the words on the bottom, but it does mention the village hospital.
Posted by: Samuel Tai at April 13, 2004 04:14 PM (Permalink)Justene, can you type out what each document says? I'm afraid I can barely read it, although using Samuel's comments helps. It would seem that the stepfather "stepped in" as father on the birth certificate, then oficially adopted Liliane after the war?
It is true that many, many incidents occurred during the Holocaust without information being recorded, but that was not the case with the camps. If Francois was at a camp and/or was transported to the east (where the killing centers were located) there was a record of it. Now, whether such a record survived is a different story. The Chateaubriant camp museum might know in this instance.
Posted by: Margaret at April 14, 2004 04:41 PM (Permalink)